Spirit surrondings

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AshlioFern

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Scifi, Urban fantasy, Dystopia, Post apocalypse, Modern...
The steel bars felt cold against his back, and no matter what position he shifted to, he was uncomfortable. Freezing, hurting and dirty. Ever joint in his body ached, ever muscle sore. Why he was in a cage was still a mystery for him. He had tried talking with his captures, but he never got a respons. They just stared at him, smiling and laughing like he was some circus attraction, and he stared back, scared out of his mind while taking in the horrible creatures that was standing before the cage. More arms than a body ever should have, animal shaped ears and horns growing out of their head, or in some cases heads, teeth as large as his hands, fingers even longer, hairs growing places it shouldn’t. They all looked different, all grotesque, and definitely not human. Monsters...

The first time he had seen one, he had been sitting at his favorite café. While drinking a coffee and staring out of the window, a creature twice as large as everyone else on the street had walked by. Its skin was green and hanging loose on the body, and there had even been a tail. He had almost screamed out loud in terror from the sight, but was luckily too shocked to get any sound out. Because what was even more worrying than the creature itself, was that no one else seemed to notice it.

He excused the whole thing with lack of sleep. School had been stressful, work had been hard, and he had barely gotten a good night sleep the last month. So it wasn’t so strange that he had seen something weird. He was probably half asleep at the time without realizing it. But, then it happened again. And again. Weird creatures kept popping up where they should’t be. Walking through the class room, sleeping on the floor in the library, running down the street… And never did he see anyone else react to them.

Not knowing what else to do, he kept pretending like he didn’t see them, not wanting to admit that he was clearly going insane. Even when the streets and buildings started changing, he kept going on like nothing was happening. One minute he could be standing by his school, and the next the building changed. It was kinda similar, but with some clear differences. Extra rooms added, usually in a way that looked random and not especially professional. The colors changed, and everything looked worn down and dirty. Rubbish suddenly littered the streets, and everywhere monsters where running around. Small and large, wide and thin. Every color and shape you could think off. All monsters, and not a single human in sight. It was like if he had stepped into another world.

The visions only lasted for a second or two at first. Then they got longer. A minute, five minutes, an hour… And the monsters started noticing him. Before they had seemed to not see him, or any of the humans. When that changed, he got surprised looks and monsters moving out of his way. His reaction was to run. Every time it happened, he found an alley to hid in while he waited for the vision passed. Then he almost had to crawl home due to his body shaking so bad.

He tried talking about it to his best friend once, asking if he ever saw strange things. The look he had gotten then had scared him from ever mentioning it again. It was clear that he was crazy. He probably should have gotten professional help by then, but he hoped that it would stop by itself if he only kept ignoring it. His mind would have to stop imagining these things eventually, right?

It obviously hadn’t worked, and it had all taken a very ugly turn during his last vision. It had lasted for almost two hours already and he was hiding in an alley as usual, when a pack of monsters had suddenly appeared. Before he had the change to realize what was happening they had grabbed him, and while he fought to get loose, he had been knocked out. When he woke up, he was locked in a cage, and that’s where he had stayed since. The vision never ended this time, it just went on and on for days. Weeks. Months? He had no idea how long he had been there now, it was impossible to keep track of the days there.

«Wash the cage, we have to wash the smelly cage,» a light voice sang as a few of the smaller monsters came into the room. It was a large room, and from the rest he had seen of this world, he could see that this was a nicer place. If he was right, these creatures worked as servants for the owner of the house, the one who was keeping him a prisoner. He had seen the monster a few times, and he definitely understood why the others seemed to respect it. He had never seen anyone more frightening.

«Smelly!» another one chimed in, a bright yellow thing covered in fur. It had more eyes than he managed to count and a cat like mouth, and in it’s hands there was a hose. It wasn’t the first time he had seen it, since they kept complaining about the smell. What did they expect, when there was no toilet for him, and no way to wash himself. The cage was smal, not even large enough for him to stand up in or stretch out while lying down. But there was a drain in the floor, so they turned the water on and hosed him down.

The water was freezing, and left him shivering and moaning. When they were done with that, they threw some food in to him and left. It was strange fruits and vegetables, some of them too moldy to eat. Thanks to that he had lost weight and his hair had starting to fall out. Would any of his friends or family recognize him if he got back? Would he recognize himself?

He didn’t understand why he was there. At first he had thought he had been arrested, maybe he had broken some law by mistake. But he didn't think that any more. The monsters never said anything, never did anything to him except stare and talked between themselves. Like he was some weird thing, a strange animal. It was all they where interested in. He was nothing but a fun thing for them to look at.

He had tried getting out, but the cage was impossible to break through or open. So the little hope he had left of ever getting back home, slipped further and further away every day. If there even was anywhere to get back to. He had a theory. Instead of passing into some other world, he had simply experienced some break down. In reality, he was probably lying in some hospital drooling, and this was all part of his sick mind.

Name: Lio
Age: 19
About: Constantly busy with school and his part time work, where he works very hard to do his best. Lost his parents in an accident 5 years ago, and don't have much family left. Don't have much time for anything besides working and studying, but he likes to read and visit parks and any other nature places.
Personality: Friendly, easily stressed, nervous, pushes himself, easily distracted, is prone to forget everything and everyone when he is busy with school and work.


Shion.(No.6).full.838296.jpg


@cactsus
 
name: Pulchra
age: Undefined
about: The walking spa, Pulchra, makes a living from offering a variety of on-the-spot services. Facial, body, beauty, salon, and massage treatments are just a few of the luxury therapies offered. Find him by following the pungent smell of foreign spices and exotic perfumes for a chance to receive the most calming, rejuvenating experience of your existence.
personality: Impulsive, soothing, curious, greedy
physical description: The only static part of Pulchra's body is his face which is visible from the ears forward and has the appearance of a person's. He appears racially ambiguous with tan skin, peaceful eyes, full lips, and a strong-- but small-- nose. The rest of his body is black and usually slim with the appearance of a human male's, and on top of his head is a thick tuft of dark brown hair. He keeps himself impeccably well-groomed and dresses in deep, bright colors. Occasionally his body will lose its shape or the opacity of his extremities will fade in a gradient, making his toes and fingertips look almost transparent.

name: Wealth Spirit
age: Undefined
about: Undefined
personality: Stoic, mute
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"PAAAYY MEE!" Pulchra screeched into the keyhole, banging his fists desperately against the two thick wooden doors attached to it. He was wearing a short, decadently embellished yellow robe and had brought a box wrapped with a square of a similarly embellished cloth in black which sat beside him. The scattered sounds of small feet rushing around and annoyed voices trying to figure out what to do could be heard from the other side. "JUST PAY ME AND I'LL GO," he yelled at them, digging his slim fingers into the crack between the double doors and attempting (to no avail) to pry them apart. "Pleeaaaaaaaassssee!" he whined, falling backwards onto the doorstep. The old plaster manor sprawled out above him was a chalky red color that was littered with dents; it had numerous large windows but they were all shrouded by thick velvet drapes from the inside. "Go away! You broke the master's nail, he's not going to reward you for bad service!" An exasperated voice explained for the nth time from behind the doors.

"His nails are too brittle! It's unbefitting for a spirit of his stature! That's why I brought acrylics this time!"

"This time!?" A shrill voice shouted back at him, "Do you think we're letting you touch him again!?"

Pulchra crawled back up to the keyhole again, "Let me in! I'll convince him!" he argued. Something had begun to visibly crawl around under the skin in his neck and the tips of his fingers seemed to be a little less opaque than they were a moment ago.

"No!" bellowed a beast with a wide toad-skinned body and a mouth that stretched nearly far enough to meet both of the small ears on either side of his wide, boxy face as he tore open the doors. He wore a sleeveless shirt and wrapped white pants (patterned with small blue diamond shapes matching all the household staff's attire) that cinched around his calves. His massive body, which oozed hostility, filled up the entirety of the frame.

"LEA--"

--But before he got out the second word Pulchra had slipped between his legs and into the house. It was a cluttered place with extremely high walls that were almost completely lined with heavy fabrics embroidered with ornate designs which hung from the windows and ceilings. Fancy pillows and a collection of chairs, sofas, and loveseats also littered the place. It felt extremely cozy despite the currently panicked atmosphere. Pulchra darted between the clutter and a variety of house workers until he came to a staircase. He wasn't sure where his client would be, but he could smell something kind of foul coming from the second floor and noticed a lot of the servants seemed to have come from that direction...

Pulchra dashed up the broad staircase, whose railings had fittingly ornate designs carved into them, and continued to race toward wherever the odd smell was leading him. This stink was something he recognized; he vaguely remembered getting a whiff of it the last time he visited the manor, but at that time it was much less severe. But what was it... "--Ah!" he exclaimed, finally passing by the room the odor was coming from.

He burst in and spotted the spirit immediately. "Wealth Spirit!" he chimed familiarly. The room was dark and was packed with slightly less clutter than the rest of the mansion. On one wall the spirit was coiled around himself on top of a luxurious chair like a fat slinky with his old, wrinkled face pointed directly in front of him. His softly shimmering body seemed to be the only light source in the expansive, muggy room and his eyes were glazed over-- not showing much response to any of the commotion even as the servants burst in behind Pulchra, blurting apologies to him and talking over themselves. "Wealth Sprirt you want me to do your nails again, don't you? I've brought little gems this time that I can decorate them with and I've just yesterday got this amazing lotion to put on you afterwards that will make your skin feel like silk!" Pulchra pitched to the spirit quickly before the servants could tear him out of the room. When the spirit didn't respond Pulchra eagerly turned to the servants who were now beside him, "See!? He wants it!"

The Wealth Spirit, like many others, never spoke. With these types of beings there was no special telepathic communication, it was just by intuition that everyone would guess what they intended. Pulchra, like many, was accustomed to imposing his own desires onto mute spirits-- and because of this they always made the best clients. Pulchra nudged the servants who stood next to him. They paused, not sure what they should take from the Wealth Spirit's lack of response, then huddled up in a small group to quietly consult with each other.

Pulchra looked back to the Wealth Spirit, why was he so distant looking? He followed the spirit's glassy gaze to the other side of the room where, past a set of open theatre curtains, he noticed for the first time a grungy little cage. The floor on the other side of the curtains, under the cage, was different from the other half of the room, it was tiled and dirty with a small drain in the corner. That cage was where the smell was coming from! Pulchra's eyes widened and his jaw dropped slightly. That's what the spirit was so transfixed on, how did he not notice until just now? What was it? "What is that..." Pulchra said absently staring into the cage. The servants, breaking from their chaotic jumble, flinched and turned back to the scene--

"--How much do you need to keep quiet?" one of the servants asked anxiously, he was another toad-like man, but smaller than the one who'd opened the door and in a slightly different uniform.

Pulchra could feel his chest pulsing and something moving around in under the skin of his stomach. What had he run into? This was getting exciting. "I value my client's privacy," he responded professionally, turning to look at the servants, " I think I left my box outside... so if you could grab that for me..." he continued as a sly grin spread across his face.

"Fine," the servant grumbled, turning on his heel and marching out of the room. The rest quickly followed and soon the door slammed behind them.

Immediately Pulchra ran to the cage. "What is it?" he asked again, excitedly sticking his hand through the bars to touch the shady figure hunched over in the corner of its tiny enclosure...
 
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Lio had been dosing of in the corner, a half eaten pear or something in his hands. He was so extremely tired all the time now, it felt like his body was constantly drained from energy. Sleeping didn't help though, which was what he did most of the time. Wasn’t much else to do anyway, but lately it had been a struggle to keep awake. He was dying, he had to be. Starved and cold, it was a miracle that he hadn’t gotten sick too. Or, maybe he was. Everything hurt and he did feel terrible, so it was a little hard to pin point what exactly was happening to his body.


A ruckus suddenly filled the room, but he didn’t look up. That…thing was there now, the quiet floating face that never said anything. His owner… Lio didn’t want to look at it. Every time he meet it’s empty eyes, terror filled his body. It just wasn’t right, someone wasn’t supposed to look like that! And why did he never say anything? What were they planning to do with him?! There were after all two reasons to lock up an animal. One, to keep it like a pet. Or two, to… he didn’t even dare think it.

A couple hands suddenly fluttered in the corner of his eye, and Lio screamed out in fear and pressed himself against the wall in effort to get further away. «No no, please don’t, please don’t eat me, I–«

He froze when he caught a climbs of what the thing looked like. His face… he had almost forgotten what they looked like. A human. The next second he threw himself forward and grabbed hold of his arms as hard as he could, digging his dirty nails into his skin. «Help me!» he gasped and clung to him. «Get me out, please save me!»
 
Pulchra was shocked to see the frail body in front of him become so animated and he couldn't help but gasp from the pressure of the boy's nails digging into him. A small bead of black blood began to well up on his forearm, but he continued to stare, wide-eyed, into the face of the human in front of him. He could hardly believe his sight. Is this.... really what they look like? Just as Pulchra begun to lean in towards the boy he felt a prickling sensation on his back. The Wealth Spirit. He'd forgotten his manners. Grabbing a clients pet like that was unheard of (and he must've been seeing things wrong there was no way it was really a human, right?).

Pulchra whipped around to see the spirit, slowly unfurling from his chair, with his vertebrae arched like a cat's and his glowing grey hairs standing on end. The aura emanating from his massive, half-uncoiled body made it hard to breathe. Clearly the spirit did not approve of how close Pulchra was getting to Lio. Quickly Pulchra ripped his arms away from the cage and in response the spirit halted his movement. Stunned for a moment, he glanced back toward the enclosure, his heart racing, "Ah, sorry... I didn't mean to offend... forgive my boldness, Mister Wealth Spirit..."

He started to walk back over to the other side of the room, resolving to ignore the cage if it would mean this much trouble, but before his first step the door burst open. The Wealth Spirit remained motionless, but Pulchra flinched. A few servants from before had made their way back, one carrying Pulchra's box with the black fabric and two larger ones behind him presumably as backup. All three gasped in unison at the sight of their master's belligerent state. "Wh-what are you..." one of the men started in shock.

"--He wants to let the human out!" Pulchra exclaimed before he could think. The words poured out of his mouth like vomit, "He can't get a good view with it all crunched up behind those thick bars like that, he wants me to treat it's hair and its dirty hands too so I expect to be payed triple what we agreed on last time! It scratched me as well so don't think you won't be compensating me for that too!"

The servants looked at each other and then back to the Wealth Spirit, who remained motionless. Pulchra glared into it's heavy, wrinkled eyes. "Come on... don't you want to see what its face looks like when it's clean? They haven't been taking good care of its hygiene, can't you tell? That cage reeks and the thing inside of it is dirty enough to give me nightmares... So just get the keys from them," Pulchra waved a hand toward the baffled servants, "have the doors locked so it can't escape, and let me work." He smiled broadly, "You want to see what I can do, don't you?"

The Wealth Spirit remained motionless.

"Really? Because it seems to me like he doesn't want your services anymore..." the smaller servant replied, still nervously eyeing his master. "I think... I think he doesn't mind how dirty the human go--" but he paused. In one jerky movement The Wealth Spirit had shifted his face an inch in their direction. Looks of terror crossed all the servants faces and a hollow noise started to build from the depths of the spirit's gut. Slowly his head started to tilt toward them. "S-s-s-s-s-s-sir, d-d-do you want the key th-then?" the smaller servant stuttered as he fumbled through his pockets while the other servants stood behind him in horrified silence. Pulchra too was starting to feel the bite of terror, but more than that he felt a rush of excitement bubbling up inside him.

The servant finally managed to clumsily retrieve the key ring when suddenly the Wealth Spirit's large, wrinkled face was just centimeters from his trembling hands. "EEK!" He yelped, falling back on himself and dropping the keys in front of him. All three servants, forgetting their pride, stumbled out of the room as quickly as their legs could carry them and slammed the door once again. Leaving just the spirit, his pet, and Pulchra in the dim, grime-covered room... But despite the grim scene Pulchra couldn't contain his joy. His smile widened and his white teeth beamed out brightly.

The Wealth Spirit slowly returned to his initial coiled position, staring forward into the cage and Pulchra waited a moment before walking over to the keys. The servant had managed to drop his box as well, so he retrieved both and returned to the cage.

"I'm letting you out now... If you don't try anything stupid this might not be your last time..." he said comfortingly, as he unlocked Lio's pen.

**sorry if this is a mess, this week is hectic for me**
 
Lio flinched away when the... thing returned. He knew it wasn't human now, the blood on his fingers told him that. Humans didn't have black blood. Or...do they? Maybe he was losing his mind completely now, and forgetting everything he had once known...

When the cage unlocked, his mood instantly shifted from scared to hopeful. I'm getting out? And it's not the last time…? He had caught snippets of what the creatures had said to each other, but it didn’t make much sense to him. They apparently wanted a better look at him. That gave him nothing but an uneasy feeling. Why do they want that? And that…thing was still there. Lio was sure he was imagining it, but it felt like the empty eyes were staring more intensely than usual now, and that did not seem like a good sign.

But the possibility of getting out won over any fear he felt, so when the new creature unlocked the cage, he slowly crawled out on shaking limbs. He kept his eyes to the floor, to scared to look at either of them. Even the human looking was scaring him now. Why does he look like that? Lio had seen other creatures that had some resemblance with humans, but they all had something weird too. Like horns sticking out of there foreheads, or teeth that were way too big for a human mouth.

When he was clear of the cage, he tried to stand up, but he quickly fell back to the floor and gasped in pain. His legs wouldn’t hold him up, and even his back was struggling. Tears weld up in his eyes and a sob escaped him. Feeling so broken scared him more than anything. It seemed impossible that he would ever recover from this, and he just felt even more sure that he would die soon, one way or another.

***it looks great! Sorry mine are a little short...***
 
The Wealth Spirit wasn't moving, but Pulchra could tell he was enjoying himself. Even as the human collapsed to the floor and started crying Pulchra could feel the spirit's energy rising. He squatted down to his box and untied the black knot of fabric at its top, revealing the rest of the box's plain wooden form. He proceeded to undo a latch on the front, open its wooden lid, and then quietly began sifting through its contents. Are all humans this grotesque, he wondered, pulling out a fruit wrapped up in brown paper, a fancy looking knife, a thick white washcloth, and a glass bottle of water.

"I'm going to clean his face off for you, alright?" Pulchra asked cautiously, turning his eyes to the Wealth Spirit. Unsurprisingly, he didn't seem to respond, but he did seem to be in a good mood now so Pulchra, with the supplies he'd just collected, continued over to where the human had fallen.

He stopped beside the boy, being sure not to stand between him and the spirit, and knelt over to set his things down. Quietly, under his breath he whispered, "Don't make any sudden movements like before, and don't ever touch me again. I'm not sure what upset your master earlier, but I'd like to avoid upsetting him again..." He looked down at his arms mournfully, "...and aside from that, your hands are disgusting... I really wish you hadn't grabbed me like that..." he mumbled, unwrapping the fruit he'd brought over and cutting it in half with the knife. It appeared to be something like an avocado but it's center seemed more like a kiwi. Pulchra absently set the knife off to the side and began busily squishing the insides of one half of the fruit with his thumbs... he could already feel its intensely citrus-y aroma stinging the pores on this face and in the deepest walls of his nasal cavities. He hummed quietly to himself while he worked.
 
Lio stayed on all four, shaking and sobbing. He heard the thing say it was going to wash his face, but he didn’t understand why. «What are you doing to me?» he asked with his weak voice, sniffling and gasping slightly. His lungs threatened to start another attack of hyperventilating. It had been some days since his last time now, but the change of events was threatening to push him over the edge again.

The fruit that was cut into stung his nose and eyes, and he looked towards what the thing was doing. «Please…» he whispered, sucking in air and trying his best to calm himself. «You need to help me… I need to get out of here…» The knife come into view and his eyes widened slightly, before he started fumbling for it with his shaking hands. «I’m not supposed to be here!» he gasped, closing his weak fingers around the hilt.
 
"Settle down, I'm just going to clean your face off..." Pulchra replied, ignoring most of what the human said, setting down the half fruit and picking up his bottle of water. He continued to prepare, opening the water and pouring it over the washcloth, seeming to not notice the knife in Lio's shaky hands. "... I know you can't see yourself, but it's really grimy. If you actually are a human I want to see what you really look like, under all the dirt. I'm pretty excited about it, actually." He glanced up at Lio (still ignoring the knife) and then to the spirit who remained motionless, quietly watching them, "your owner probably feels the same..."

Pulchra sighed, arranging the items he had beside himself, then looked up, flashing a smile at the human and patting an empty section of floor in front of him, "so lay your head here and I'll rub this into your face. It'll probably sting, but you'll feel better afterwards."
 
Lio just stared at the small knife in his hand, wondering what he should do now. He could maybe stab the thing next to him, but the big one… the one with no real face, he doubted he would manage to take that down. Especially in this weak state. So he turned his hand around to hid it better, thinking he could save it for later. Maybe if only one came to clean his cage next time, he could get out. Or break open the lock even. Or…he could use it on himself... That was another way of escaping this horrible place.

The thing beside him spoke up and Lio blinked at it, trying to put the words it said into meaning. Everything moved slowly in his head, as if every thought was drenched in honey. It took him a couple seconds before he understood that it wanted him to lie down, so he could clean him. He stared down at the spot he was patting, and then with slow and jerking motions, he got down on his back and looked up into the ceiling with an empty stare. «I’m normally not this skinny,» he heard himself muttering. «I’ve lost weight…» If the thing wanted to see how a human really looked, Lio doubted he would be a good representation right now.
 
Pulchra leaned in toward the human's ear. "Why would I help you?" He asked, "You don't have anything I want. Can't you just be happy that I'm cleaning you right now?" He reached a hand into the neck of his clothes and pulled out a smooth, ovular rock which he placed in the center of Lio's chest. Shockingly, despite the rock's small size and the ease with which Pulchra handled it, it was extremely heavy. Almost heavy enough to crack a rib, but definitely heavy enough to pin a weak, starved human to the ground. "This is so you don't try to get up," he casually explained, "when I said it would sting earlier, that was putting it lightly... but if you're good and don't try to wipe it off I'll find you something to eat."

He twisted the washcloth that was folded on the floor beside him into a rope-like shape and shoved it into Lio's mouth like a gag, "so you don't bite off your tongue. I'm sorry-- it really is going to hurt. Such a dirty face needed one of my more extreme treatments. Just try to close your eyes and not think about it." Pulchra scooted forward and pinned Lio's head in place between his knees to keep him from turning away.

Picking up the fruit, Pulchra scooped a portion of the citrusy mush onto his palm, "it's actually burning my hands pretty bad," he laughed and then inhaled deeply, "I almost can't feel my fingers anymore." Without hesitation he placed his hand, dripping with the fruit's acidic liquid, on the face below him and began to forcefully rub the sludge into Lio's skin.
 
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The panic started to build the second the rock was placed on him. He gasped and tried to wriggled away, but it was no use. His panicking didn’t lessen when it started talking about how much it would hurt, and definitely not when the rag got shoved into his mouth. He started breathing heavy through his nose, and tried his best to get lose, dropping the knife in the process.

The second it touched his skin, Lio screamed. The liquid was definitely burning, and the way it was trying to rub it into his skin didn’t help. Why couldn’t they just use water if it was so important to clean him. He screwed his eyes shut not to get anything in them and tried to move away, but his head was pinned to tight. So he tried grabbing his arms instead, desperat for it all to stop.
 
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